The invention generally relates to an eye patch.
It is not uncommon for one eye (called the dominant eye) to be substantially dominant with respect to the other eye (called the weaker eye). This imbalance typically worsens if left untreated and may even lead to loss of sight in the weaker eye. For a young child, the strength of the weaker eye may be improved by forcing reliance on the weaker eye. More specifically, the child may wear an eye patch to block the vision of the dominant eye and strengthen the muscles of the weaker eye.
One such eye patch is a disposable eye patch that has an adhesive strip for securing the eye patch to the child's face. However a difficulty with this arrangement is that the eye patch may cause irritation, thereby increasing the likelihood that the child may remove the patch. For example, the adhesive of the eye patch may cause irritation of the child's skin or eyebrow, and the proximity of the eye patch near the eye may also cause irritation. Furthermore, because the eye patch is disposable, the eye patch may need to be replaced on a daily basis or even more frequently, making use of the eye patch fairly expensive.
An alternative to the disposable adhesive eye patch is an eye patch that is attached to the inside of eyeglass frames, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,927,279. This patent describes an eye patch that is formed from a fabric body that is attached at one end to a nose pad of the eyeglass frames. The other end of the fabric body includes slots that receive an arm of the eyeglass frames. A difficulty with this eye patch is that the fabric body of the eye patch may contact and irritate the eye. Furthermore, repeatedly attaching the eye patch to the nose pad and removing the eye patch from the nose pad increases the likelihood that the nose pad may be broken, especially when performed by a child. Also this eye patch cannot be used with frames that do not have a certain type of nose pad.
Thus, there is a continuing need for an eye patch addressing one or more of the problems that are stated above.